This course is a study of modern Arabic literary forms such as the free verse poem, the prose-poem, drama, the novel, and the short story. The class examines issues related to Arabic culture and identity in the modern and post- modern era through the study of Arabic literature. The aim of the course is to introduce students to key samples of modern Arabic literature which trace major social and political developments in Arab society. All readings will be in English translations. The class will also address the role of translation in shaping modern Arabic literary forms and creating the image of Arabic literature in other languages. Recent topics have included: Arab Women and War, Modernism and Arabic Poetry, The Arabic Free Verse movement.

Sector Requirements

Your department or program fields a variety of courses to meet distinct educational needs. Please explain how this course fits into your department's plan for participating in the general education curriculum of the College. The sector panel will want to know what is distinctive about this course along with the other courses your department lists in the sector that makes them suitable for the sector requirement.

Endorser Justification

Arabic and Islamic Studies is a major area of specialization within NELC, but is poorly represented among the General Requirement courses currently rostered by the Department. This course helps to address that need with a broad survey of modern Arabic literature that introduces students to the social and cultural context of the varies genres of Arabic literature. The course aims to make the study of, and appreciation for Arabic literature, more accessible by offering a survey course taught in translation. The course is a stand alone introduction to the issues and methodologies of the discipline but may also serve as a gateway to additional courses in NELC.

Term Offered

Course not offered every year

Sector Requirements

Arts & Letters Sector

Format

LEC

Instructor Name

Huda Fakhreddine

Instructor Type

Standing Faculty

Instructor Status

Standing Faculty

Place in Curriculum

This course is an introductory course in the NELC major. The course benefits students interested in the literature and history of the Middle East. It is also relevant to students of the modernist movement in the English and other European traditions.

Instructor's Objectives

1. The ability to identify some of the important literary themes and trends in Modern Arabic poetry
2. The ability to apply some of the basic approaches of critical theory to works of literature and especially to close-readings of poetry
3. Skills in the use of literary and critical sources

Methods of Assessment

Number and size of paper(s) assigned

5 Written Responses (5 pages each): The writing assignments will either be a close reading of one of the poems or a response to one of the critical readings.

One 12 to15 page paper: This assignment is a research paper in which student focus on a poet or a school of poetry or a recurrent theme. The study must focus on close reading of texts in addition to supplementary research. Student's also have the option of taking a comparative approach by drawing on other poetic traditions you are familiar with. The issue of translation may be focus as well.

Number and type of exams

none

Other Requirements

Weekly informal class presentations
A final conference-like presentation on the topic of the final paper

Sector I - Society

How does this course allow students to formulate and test social science hypotheses?

How does the course provide students with an understanding of social theories?

How will students understand the basis of empirical social science?

How will students gather and interpret data about social phenomena?

How does the course encourage students’ understanding of culture, religion, class, gender, race, or other fundamental social constructs?

How does the course enable students to understand the role of institutions in society, the relationship between individuals and those institutions, or the relationship among ideologies, values, and individual behavior?

Sector II - History and Tradition

How does this course allow students to read and interpret primary sources?

How will students be able to contextualize the primary materials they examine?

How will students closely read materials and discuss their core ideas?

How will students learn to interpret visual or material objects?

How do students have the opportunity to write significant interpretive essays about the sources they study?

How does the course provide students with an interpretive framework for analyzing change over time?

How does the course contribute to understanding of how knowledge is constructed and how interpretive frameworks change over time?

Sector III - Arts & Letters

How does the course allow students to develop interpretive strategies for analyzing visual, aural or literary texts?

The class allows students to develop interpretive strategies for analyzing literary texts by engaging with the socio-political context and the critical and literary environment which produced them. This is achieved in the list of secondary and recommended readings. Through a selection of sample works (whether poetry or prose) the class also traces the literary history of modernism in Arabic literature.

How does the course offer students ample opportunity to write significant interpretive essays?

The class aims to develop student's ability to apply some of the basic approaches of critical theory to works of literature. The class also heavily relies on close readings of texts allowing students to engage with available readings of a work and also present their own readings.

How does the course allow students to develop an appreciation of the creative process within a medium or in a variety of artistic media?

This class highlights the major changes that took place in Arabic literature in the first half of the Twentieth century both in themes and in forms. The class also focuses on the on-going conversation between the Arab modernists and their literary tradition.

If a course is narrowly focused, how does it provide for breadth through understanding the social context or continuing significance of the work(s) being analyzed?

Through the focus on the Arabic modernist movement in poetry and prose, this course tracing major social and political developments which transformed the Arab world in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

Sector IV - Humanities and Social Science

How does the course integrate theory with practical applications?

How are students allowed the opportunity to reflect on practice?

How does the course allow students to integrate approaches from two or more humanities or social science disciplines?

How does the course place creative practice in writing, music or the fine arts in an interpretive context?

Sector V - Living World

How does the course allow students to examine data, critically assess their origins, and consider the conclusions that can be drawn from them?

How does the course teach students how experimental and observational methods, as well as quantitative reasoning, are applied to the study of living systems?

How do students learn the methods used by contemporary natural science to study how organisms influence and are influenced by the environment?

How do students learn how to characterize and analyze basic population dynamics?

How do students learn about ecological diversity and how to measure it?

Sector VI - Physical World

Does the course allow students to examine data, critically assess their origins, and consider the conclusions that can be drawn from them?

How does the course teach students how experimental and observational methods, as well as quantitative reasoning, are applied to the study of physical systems?

How do students learn the methods used by contemporary natural science to study interactions among physical systems?

How does the course have students use mathematical methods to test observational data and formulate and test hypotheses?

How do students learn about the relevance of theory to the world of ordinary observation?

Sector VII - Natural Sciences and Mathematics

How does this course integrate knowledge across two or more disciplines in the natural sciences/mathematics?